Non-Formal Education

Ideas and Projects: Informal Educational Methodologies

Non-Formal Education

by Daria Vesna

Additional ways to develop personality A student is not a vessel which should be filled, but a torch which should be lit.

Plutarch

T

he crisis in the educational system, at the turn of the millennium, has become an almost universal phenomenon.

This is due to the fact that mankind cannot keep up with technological progress: nowadays, knowledge can be acquired very easily;

there is no longer a need to pore over the books in the quiet of the library, one-click of a computer mouse and you get access to all the necessary information.

Moreover, the public educational system is still using methods which became obsolete half a century 38

ago – it’s no surprise that today's children resist the violent means of hammering old knowledge into their heads. Informal education is in the line of fire between these two elements, the state and childhood, and it is continuing to evolve and to recapture new bases.

Informal education (IE) is an alternative to the standardized education system.

If parents desire to give their child more or something fundamentally different than a traditional school program the choices are rather broad: from institutions aimed at deeper spiritual development, to specialized institutions,

which immerse children in a particular science. For example, Waldorf schools, which have a widespread network worldwide, put concepts of extrasensory perception and creative thinking at the lead of its teaching methods, using the notion of “complete articulation of an evolutionary development”, meaning that the child is taught only as much as he or she can learn without inner resistance at each age stage. Another example of specialized institutions is the network of “Mathnasium” learning centers, where children are taught the greatest sciences of all, mathematics, using the slogan “Children do not hate mathematics a passion for it comes with understanding, and that is our mission”.

"Imagine a school where children are free to be themselves; where success is determined not by academic achievement but by the child’s own understanding of success; where the principles of democracy are predominant, where every child is a personality and has the right to be heard; and where you can play all day or just sit and daydream”. These are not fantasies, but the basic principles of the famous Summerhill School, founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neill in the town of Leiston, near London.

Geniuses, misunderstood by the time in which they lived, existed in every age - in the early twentieth century, Neill’s idea of the child’s right to freedom and personal choice seemed unacceptable to many, but he was convinced that children should be given the power

Идеи и проекты: Нетрадиционные методики обучения

Неформальное образование

Дарья Весна

Дополнительные способы развить личность Ученик – это не сосуд, который нужно наполнить, а светильник, который нужно зажечь. Плутарх

Неформальное образование (НО) – это альтернатива стандартизированной образовательной системе. Если у родителей возникает желание дать ребенку нечто большее или принципиально иное, чем предполагает традиционная школьная программа – выбор весьма широк: от учреждений, направленных на глубокое духовное развитие, до узкоспециализированных заведений, погружающих детей в какую-то определенную науку. К примеру, широко распространенная в мире сеть Вальдорфских школ во главу угла ставит сверхчувственное

восприятие и образное мышление, а в качестве метода использует принцип «неопережения», т.е. ребенка учат именно тому, что он может освоить на каждом возрастном этапе без внутреннего сопротивления. Примером узкоспециализированной направленности может служить сеть учебных центров «Mathnesium», где детей обучают царице всех наук Математике под лозунгом «Дети не ненавидят математику – страсть к ней приходит с пониманием, а это уже наша задача». «Представьте себе школу, где дети свободно могут быть самими собой; где успех определяется не академическими достижениями, а тем, как сам ребенок определяет свою успешность; где действуют принципы демократии и где каждый ребенок – индивидуальность и имеет право быть услышанным; где вы можете играть весь день напролет или просто сидеть и мечтать». Это не утопия, а базовые принципы знаменитой школы Александра Сазерленда Нилла – Summerhil, основанной в 1921 году в городке Лейстон, недалеко от Лондона. Гении, не понятые своим временем, рождались во все эпохи. И хотя в начале ХХ века идеи Нилла о праве ребенка на свободу и личный выбор многим

казались неприемлемыми, он был убежден: детям нужно дать власть над собственной жизнью, прекратить принуждать – и тогда они научатся вырабатывать собственную мотивацию и самодисциплину; нужно прислушаться к их мнению – и они смогут слушать сами. Доказательством его правоты служит тот факт, что школа, возглавляемая, в лучших традициях преемственности поколений,

YOUTH TIME I № 13 I OCTOBER–NOVEMBER 2012

Н

а пороге нового тысячелетия кризис в образовательной системе стал практически повсеместным явлением. Это связано с тем, что гуманитарные дисциплины не успевают за скоростью научно-технического прогресса: знания нынче добываются очень легко; больше не нужно корпеть над книгами в библиотечной тиши, один клик компьютерной мыши – и вы получаете доступ к любой необходимой информации. А обучение на государственном уровне продолжают вести по системам, отжившим свое еще полвека назад – понятно, почему современные дети сопротивляются насильственным методам вбивания в головы устаревших знаний. И на линии огня между этими стихиями, государства и детства, все новые бастионы отвоевывает неформальное образование.

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Ideas and Projects: Informal Educational Methodologies

over their own lives, that they shouldn’t be forced – and, thus, they will learn to develop their own motivations and self-discipline; that their opinions should be heard - and, they will also learn to listen. The proof of his rectitude is the fact that the school is functioning to this day, led, in the best traditions of generational succession, by Alexander’s daughter, Zoe Readhead.

Modern variations of IE are guided, in one way or another, by Neill’s educational philosophy. “IE is the essence of modern pedagogy, for which it is imperative to move away from theorizing and from the classical “teacher-student” model, and to shift to a different approach – one that is subjective, based on personal interests involved in the educational process", states Dima Zicer, director of the Russian Institute of IE. Relationships in a class should not be based on hierarchy, but should be built on the level of different personalities, which should actively interact with each other and with the teacher. This kind of communication is only possible in a warm, friendly atmosphere, and, thus, Dima insists on abolishing the usual school atmosphere - dull-colored walls, buzzing lights, placement of desks in such a way that the eye constantly rests on the back of the neighbor – because, in order to have a dialogue, it is necessary to see the faces of the interlocutors. Even the name of the school, MGOU № 1408, is annoying and depressing. For these reasons, Dima has established a school, in St. Petersburg, with a very positive name, “Orange”. Its global mission, in addition to the full

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development of the child, also aims to ensure that teachers learn to answer the fundamental questions of IE - not WHAT to teach, but rather HOW and WHY? The Institute of IE was created to help achieve this and, thus, part of its activities are aimed at educational organization and the training of the teachers. Dima is convinced that pedagogy is a practical science, which should be comprehended and which will make sense only in a creative atmosphere. Administrations of many schools and even cities are gradually coming to this understanding: the Institute has an unending queue of requests for workshops for teachers.

School should bring joy! This statement is the motto of an outstanding contemporary, who is frequently called the Illuminator, Mikhail Semenovich Kazinik. His method of complex-wave lessons is actively used in the conventional high school of the industrial town of Vyksa, in the region of Nizhny Novgorod. Mikhail Semenovich is convinced that the future mission of the school consists in teaching children to think, feel, and build logical connections between events, in order to create associative minds and to raise poetically minded people. During his classes, cultural phenomena are not looked at separately, but as a complex: a wave from one object creates another

wave, then a third one and so on. Take, for example, such a mundane thing as an apple: what it is in terms of botany, geometry (shape - sphere, perfect), cut it in half – the concept of the golden section comes to mind, cut it in several parts - the association with the infinite divisibility becomes apparent, thus, Zeno and the aporia of Achilles and the Tortoise; from Achilles, let’s move to the Trojan War and the bone of contention, then to Newton's law of universal gravitation. These associative waves can vary - the child, instead of receiving different pieces of the puzzle, gets the whole picture, thus, learns to build associations, to ask “Why?” and to search for answers.

We are destined to live in a difficult transition period of history, at the crossroads, not only of centuries, but also of millenniums, when the old paradigms of development are no longer functioning and the new ones have not yet been invented and improved. However, the core values have remained the same - our children's future still depends on us. They have to live THEIR OWN life and it is our task to provide them the opportunity to learn to interact with the world: not the way we think is right, not the way school teachers or officials in the Ministry of Education think is right.

Informal education is one of the tools which can help us succeed.